Year B
John 6:24-35
The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn
The Worthiness of the Gospel
Amid the ruin and rubble of war-torn Germany, a group of Quakers…true story…were feeding people in the hollowed –out shell of a half-burned building. A desperate and half-starved Polish woman came upon their efforts to minister among the humiliation and horrors of war. She asked the Quakers, “Do you feed everybody?” “Yes,” was the reply. Poles? Yes. Germans? Yes. Russians? Yes. Jews? Yes. Atheists? Yes. The woman drew a deep sigh and said, “I knew there ought to be people like that in the world, but I did not know where they were.” Whether we are born, rich or poor, male or female, black or white, all humans stand before God equally. This is something the Quakers understood as they fed physically and spiritually the many hungry people of war-torn Germany. For the next four Sundays the readings will focus on bread, and feeding, physically and spiritually.
I was 9 years old when my father was sent to Paris by the Army. We lived off base in some new French apartments because they wasn’t housing available for us on base. This turned out to be quite an emersion experience for us because we and one other missionary family, who just so happened to live right below us, were the only Americans in several large new apartment buildings. Many mornings, I would get up early and go around the corner to the local Boulangerie to buy hot out of the oven baguettes. I can still smell and taste that delicious bread. I think I could almost live on bread alone. Unfortunately, I cannot but recently, one afternoon when I went into Food Lion to pick up a few things lo and behold I saw fresh baguettes and they smelled so good.
I savored that delicious bread over the next few days; allowing myself a small torn off piece every morning and remembering some of those days long ago. Today, and every Sunday, we gather around the true bread of God. And the point is not simply to “eat your fill” of bread, but to receive in faith the great gift of God, the mercy of God that forgives and delivers us from the slavery of sin, the presence of Christ amid our hungers, giving life to the world, and the Spirit which makes us one. God does all this not because we are worthy, although in Christ we are made worthy, it is because of God’s boundless love and God’s faithfulness to God’s promises for all people.
Our texts today may be understood as God’s call to the people of God to lead a life worthy of what God has done for us. This thread of worthiness is found though out our lessons today and is expressed in the Epistle when Paul writes “I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called” behaving with humility and gentleness, patience, love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”. We confess as Paul did that there is a purpose other than our own that is being worked out through our lives. Our promise to God is to become more attentive and responsive to that larger purpose which is to live the worthiness of the gospel. Therefore, like David, we are called to account for our actions. Behind this story today in the book of Samuel lurks the question of a worthy life.
It is act two of the drama of David’s entanglement with Bathsheba. God’s displeasure with David’s abuse of power becomes the Prophet Nathan’s message, but the message is delivered in the most forceful manner possible. Nathan’s parable is designed to engage the king at an emotional level and the story does exactly what Nathan wanted it to do. David is outraged at the injustice of the rich man’s actions, and Nathan drives the point home: “You are the man!” The prophet has opened the way for his message and David is now able to hear it. He is convicted of his wrongdoing and the reading ends appropriately with his words of contrition.
David had sought a life worth living, and it seemed certain that he had found one in his role as God’s servant ruling Israel. But like so many, he was attracted to another and opposing value as a way to live his life. And lest we judge David too harshly, one problem for many of us in North America is that we find it hard to know what it is that makes life worth living. The assortment of values put out there by our society makes it difficult for many to decide what makes a worthy life these days. The most obvious example of this is our attraction to the value placed on financial affluence. There are very few of us in our society who have not been tempted to assume that a worthy life is success that brings economic abundance.
However, the ideas of what makes a worthy life are far more abundant than the pursuit of money as a value. What makes a worthy life? What is the worth we seek to embody in our lives? The gospel today which uses the metaphor of bread to speak of utter trust in God, that is, to rely on God to give all that is needed for one’s life, tells us that a worthy life is one that trusts completely and one that relies only on God’s good gifts. This reading today sets the stage for the whole of the bread of life discourse that follows it. The heart of this narrative is the conversation with the crowd. They track Jesus down and need evidence that Jesus is this “Son of Man.” Strangely enough, the feeding of the multitudes which had just occurred was not sign enough for them.
Jesus explains to the crowd that they are missing the point when they just want their physical hunger satisfied. The truth is not the miracle of the loaves and fishes, but is a miracle about the revelation of God and the very sustenance that God can provide through Christ. The manna in the wilderness which our ancestors ate only anticipates the true bread from God who is Jesus. For this bread “gives life” to the world which means more than physical existence it means giving “eternal life,” the real life God intends for us. This is the heart of the message of John’s gospel. Jesus’ miracles are extraordinary deeds that rectify the situations of needy people-the sick, the hungry, the dying. But the results are not lasting unless the miracles are also seen as signs pointing to the eternal gift of God in Jesus.
Whatever the motives of the crowd that seek Jesus out, it seems they are clearly interested in finding something that sustains and enriches their lives with meaning. Jesus’ words lead them deeper, and it appears they may be sincere in wanting this “bread” that gives life and are seeking to live worthy lives. They just may not know what is worthy. They give us a glimpse into ourselves and our needs and Jesus’s words force us to be honest and acknowledge that we are sometimes seeking with superficial motives. Our efforts to make economic affluence the worth of our lives, is comparable to the crowds seeking Jesus for another meal. And Jesus tells them and us, that he is the very thing that allows us to live worthy lives.
The “life” Jesus promises is precisely what the text from Ephesians has in mind by advising us to “lead a life worthy of your calling.” In Christ we find the meaning of life and the clue as to what makes it all worthwhile. The bread that nourishes us for living full lives is the love and grace of the God who calls us to use the gifts given to “build” up the body of Christ in both unity and maturity. Growth means making a commitment to Christ so that we are not “tossed” around by various influences. God gives us all we need to live worthy lives in Christ, and in a community knit together by a common faith. We only have to embrace this divine call to live the worthiness of the gospel. This is the substance of the life, the bread of life, to which we are called and makes us worthy to love God, to love each other and to love our worthy selves.